The benefits of Web Accessibility

Commercial: Accessibility increases the website use and it is cost effective

Increases the market share and audience reach

Web accessibility can make it easier for people to find a website, access it, and use it successfully, thus resulting in increased audience (more users) and increased effectiveness (more use).

... for example, commercial companies can get more sales, educational institutions can get more students, and non-profit organizations can get more funding by demonstrating successful outreach and dissemination.

When contents and services offered by the website of a company or organization are planned to be accessible they will be available to a wider range of users. Not only to users with disabilities, but also to many other users with special needs or who are using special hardware or software. Some example could be the elderly who may have sight problems, or users using old machines or obsolete technology or people using smartphones. Having an accessible website means giving the opportunity to those people to access the content or the services offered, thus, it means also increasing the number of potential customers and audience.

Increases findability with search engine optimization (SEO)

Accessibility techniques increase the findability of web pages by exposing content to search engines, both internally (within a website) and externally (across the World Wide Web).

Most of the search engines are only able to process text and the way it is structured. If a website follows the accessible guidelines and, for example, gives alternative text for images and multimedia and the content is marked properly, it will be more likely to be listed favourably by search engines. In fact an accessible website can be called "text" or "content oriented" and it aims to produce quality and well structured content. This aspect is very relevant to search engines.

Increase the positive image of a company or organization

An organization's efforts in Web Accessibility are an opportunity to positively increase its public image, which can increase website use.

Direct costs saving

Decreases personnel costs for maintaining the site when accessibility reduces site maintenance

Legal: conformances with government requirements

In some countries one organization might be required by explicit government regulations to make its websites accessible. You can visit the following page that lists, country by country, the legislation or policies. Note that the page is in continual development: http://www.w3.org/WAI/Policy/

Ethical: Accessibility contributes to build a better society

It is essential that the Web be accessible in order to provide equal access and equal opportunity to people with disabilities. An accessible Web can also help people with disabilities more actively participate in society.

... the impact of disability is radically changed on the Web because the Web removes barriers to communication and interaction that many people face in the physical world. However, when websites, web technologies, or web tools are badly designed, they can create barriers that exclude people from using the Web.